On My Way To The Big Apple

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Hummnnnnn……………

You know, with so many virtual points of access, I’m actually finding it very tricky to tend to the demands of my official music site, the myspace site, my Krav Maga site, the facebook pages, the Linked-In friends, the new Krav Maga Brazil site (in construction) Sonico….. Orkut….. LastFM…….. how does one do it without hiring a staff of web techies just to stay afloat and keep one’s head above the water? Wheeewwwww……..!

As I quickly peck this text into my desktop in my office at Margo’s university (www.fij.br), I look at my watch, knowing that In about 3 hours I’ll be catching a plane for NYC. The time has arrived for landing in the city in order to rehearse the band that I’m taking with me to a tour of Russia, during the month of October.



Now, for the concerts in Moscow at the Spaso House (the cultural venue sponsored by the US Embassy) as well as for the concert at Tchaikovsky Hall, I have invited premier Russian guitarist, Roman Miroshnichenko, to participate on some of songs, as my special guest! Roman and I have been performing together on various different projects over the last few years and, aside from developing an exciting musical camaraderie, we have become good friends! He, in turn, has requested that I participate of his upcoming 2009 European tour… an invitation which I have gladly accepted. More info about Roman can be viewed at his cool site – www.romanmiroshnichenko.com !

Next week, my friend and partner, Daniel Figueiredo (musician, producer for TV Record, owner of Music Solution Studio) and his wife, singer Luciana Spedo (Banda Blitz, Divas) will be visiting New York City and staying with me and Margo, at our Manhattan Upper West Side flat, overlooking Central Park. It'll be their first time in NYC, so we'll be sure to make it a most memorable experience for them! Please check out our collaborative project, www.musicalnationproject.com and please feel free to contribute artistically to this worthy cause!

And, by the way, I have been sent some more of the posters that are being displayed around some of the Siberian cities which I’ll be performing at. I've inserted them in this report for you to check them out…….

Upcoming Tour of the Russian Federation + More

Hello, my friends!

As you can detect, by now, I’m still new at this “community networking”... but, I think that I’m quickly getting a handle on it.

I may have been the last person on Earth to get into Facebook, as well but, so far, it’s been a rewarding experience, as I’ve re-connected with a lot of friends, mostly from Puerto Rico, with whom I had lost contact decades ago! It’s good to see that they’re still around and it’s good to catch up on their lives!

But, today’s post is to tell you some details about my upcoming tour of Russia with my new band, The Wild Shamans. I had actually called this group, “The Groove Shamans”, but then I was asked, by my Russian agents, “What exactly does ‘groove’ mean?” So, if this sophisticated, worldly person was asking me this, then perhaps it would be better to change the name of the band to something that was easier to understand, don’t you think?

My tour schedule is 95% locked in for the following performances:

October 1 – 3 / Moscow venues, most notably, Tchaikovsky Hall
Oct 5 - concert Novosibirsk / Academytown, House of Scientists.
Oct 6, Barnaul / Philharmonic Concert Hall
Oct 7 – Kemerovo / Philharmonic Concert Hall
Oct 8 - Novokuznetsk
Oct 9 - Tomsk
Oct 10 – Moscow / Showcase for Exxon-Mobil

Here is a photo of Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall promotional poster.



On another note, a couple of weeks ago, I participated on a new recording by Brazilian blues-man, Alamo Leal. It was a cool record session with some nice traditional tunes and some great musicians on the CD roster, most visibly, harmonica prodigy, Flávio Guimarães! I talked to Alamo earlier tonight, as he called me to let me know that his record will be released next month. He still hasn’t decided on a title for the CD yet, but as soon as I receive a copy, I’ll let you all know, posting a image of the cover here, as well.

Meanwhile, 50 of my Krav Maga Federation colleagues, including my teacher and mentor, Master Rhon Mizrachi, are spending the next 3 weeks in Israel, training under the guidance of the federation’s Grandmaster, Haim Zut! Pictures can be viewed at this location: http://www.kravmagafederation.com/forum/ !

Hello, Drum Friends!

Well, as it is, I may be the last person on Earth to join the blogging world but, as they say, “Better late than never!” Fortunately, my good friend and musical partner, Daniel Figueiredo who maintains the blogs, “Ect e Tal” and “Music Solution”, convinced me yesterday that this is the way to conduct a dynamic dialogue with my supporters and all other drum freaks, all over the globe. So, thanks to Daniel, I’ve now officially joined the legions of bloggers who share their thoughts and vibes on the www.

So, now, what to do with this open global forum? Well, for starters, I’d like to use this to communicate directly with the people who, for one reason or another, access my official web site (www.frankcolon.com) and/or my myspace location (www.myspace.com/frankcolonmusic). As I don’t enjoy direct control over my own web site, since it is, thankfully, managed by my cousin Omar in Puerto Rico (http://www.entreveroinc.com), I attempted to make the myspace site a direct means of relating to my supporters and fellow drumming lovers. Alas, this really didn’t prove to be too practical either. So, here I am, testing out an alternative means towards the original purpose…

Through this vehicle, I hope to acknowledge my supporters good vibes and let you all know where and when I’ll be performing, and with who. Besides, I look forward to sharing news items mostly concerning drums and percussion that I happen to discover. I’ll also be posting performance videos and lots of photos of you, which I’ll be taking at all the locations that I perform at!

So, for opener’s here’s a video clip of my former band, taped a couple of years ago in Long Island, NY. This video features the great, inimitable Buddy Williams on drums, the beautiful Cecilia Tenconi on flute, David “Mr. Smooth” Ambrosio on bass, and Adam Klipple on keyboard. The song is, “I Was Made To Love Her”, which is featured on my Latin Wonder CD.